A kitchen is transformed with beautiful tiles and new countertops

Remote job sites are a challenge. Not only is distance a consideration when venturing out to gather information for a price quote, but the commute has to be factored into the project’s overall costs. As a result, many of my repeat remote clients indulge my idea to propose several projects at once, in an effort to maximize my time while putting all those kilometres on my work truck.

Although the jaunt from Winnipeg to Gimli is not that demanding, from where I live the travel time is close to two hours each way, making for long work days. So, the homeowners knew to throw everything at me once I had scheduled an initial visit. On the agenda was a main bathroom facelift as well as the addition of a frosted glass door to the office, which just had a doorless entryway from the hallway.

Nearing the end of our chat, the homeowner mentioned almost in passing how she’d love to also have a backsplash in the kitchen. Previously, the wall area above the back edge of the arborite countertops to the bottom of the upper cabinets had always been painted.

After assessing the kitchen, I would have felt remiss in not mentioning that the backsplash might not yield the desired result if they were intent on keeping the arborite counters. It wasn’t an attempt at an upsell — I truly felt that tiling the backsplash above the back edge of the old countertops was not the way to go. After a bit more discussion, I suggested that if they truly wanted a facelift, the cost-effective approach would be to retain the existing cabinetry, while upgrading the countertops to quartz, along with a new undermount sink and faucet. A newly tiled backsplash after those upgrades would be the icing on the cake. The homeowners quickly jumped on board and requested a quote for the kitchen facelift, along with the bathroom reno and the new glass door for the office.

Getting a boost from berries: Canadian scientists on the cutting edge of food crop research

As we gather around the table this Thanksgiving, many of us will enjoy and share the local seasonal harvest. Whether the food we serve comes from our backyard garden, a farmer’s market or the grocery store, often a direct line can be traced to the work of research scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

AAFC scientists and researchers play a vital role in developing nutritious food crops, testing methods to protect soil health and finding ways to boost crop resilience in extreme weather. Canadian research and innovation in fruits and vegetables is at the forefront of strengthening food security and self-reliance. In addition to enhancing biodiversity, AAFC scientists and researchers are also contributing significantly to the development of nutrient-dense foods.

Let’s start with the research by Samir Debnath, who has been working with northern berry crops, including blueberry, lingonberry, cranberry, huckleberry, raspberry and strawberry. In the interest of space, I will focus on lingonberry.

Wild lingonberry grows in abundance in northern Manitoba. It is also native to British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada.

After a deck was gouged during another project, the task was to make it look as good as new

During a recent window installation, the composite deck became slightly damaged when the window was positioned there temporarily during the delivery. Unbeknownst to the delivery crew (who had struggled to place the 300-pound window unit using a dolly), the window had been placed atop a few acorns, which scratched and gouged several areas of the deck as they walked the window back towards the exterior wall.

I hadn’t noticed it either, until the project was completed and the homeowners brought it to my attention.

With any reno project, every effort is made to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible, without affecting other areas of the home or property. In this case, the homeowners only noticed the damage to their top deck after thoroughly washing the area with a high-pressure spray nozzle. Although composite decks are easily scratched during normal use, these particular scrapes were quite noticeable — more like gouges than surface scratches. It quickly became evident that the heavy window had been set down on a few acorns (evident throughout the yard) and their shells had broken under the weight. When the window was moved, the abrasive edge of the shells created deep rifts in the deck — a very unfortunate scenario, since the homeowners had just recently had their deck re-sheathed in composite to replace old, treated lumber.

In talking to the homeowners, I learned the brand and colour of the composite boards which, to my delight, was easily sourced locally. I then scheduled a quick visit to assess the number of boards required to remedy the damaged area. Luckily, no board to be replaced was longer than eight feet, allowing me to use halved, 16-foot lengths for the fix.

Hot new plants for 2027

As you empty your containers and put your garden to bed for winter, take time to assess how well your plants performed. Which plant varieties bloomed consistently or provided long-lasting, vibrant colour? Is there an area of your garden or patio that would benefit next year from a splash of bold colour or texture?

Many new plants will be introduced in 2027. Gardeners can look forward to an eye-popping array of shapes, sizes and colours that will breathe new life into beds and containers.

The Fyre Wing Heuchera series from Terra Nova Nurseries is truly groundbreaking. There is nothing like it on the market in heucheras. It is the first and only heuchera, commonly known as coral bells, to have deeply cut, lace-leaf foliage. Fyre Wing debuts next year with varieties in seven different colours. Each variety is named after a gemstone — Amber, Heliodor, Hematite, Jadeite, Jet, Rhodonite and Spinel. This new series received Retailers’ Choice Awards this summer at both Cultivate and Farwest, the two most important green industry trade shows in North America.

So much buzz surrounds this new heuchera series that demand by retailers has been described as a frenzy. I reached out to Chuck Pavlich, director of new product development at Terra Nova, to inquire about Fyre Wing’s availability in Canada. He replied, “Oh yes, we indeed anticipate it to be in Canada in spring 2027. It will show up first in British Columbia, then work its way eastward.”

Waiting for a window of opportunity

Occasionally, the order of tasks within a project does not unfold as you might expect.

Based on a longer than desired wait time for a window delivery, the timeline of a recent bathroom project would have been delayed by several weeks had the window installation been slotted early on — which is typically the preferred approach. And so, a decision was made to delay the new window until the last, which created a few challenges.

Ideally, a bathroom reno unfolds in a strategic manner. First, the existing space is cleared of all the old amenities. Then, the shell is demolished, baring the wall studs to address any modifications to rough plumbing and electrical, which allows new surface sheathing and finishing to occur before introducing any new fixtures as part of the updated design. Windows and doors should be upgraded before the shell is finished, and certainly prior to repopulating the space. Although you could argue that a window installation could be treated as an isolated task — achievable at any time — the tiling in this particular bathroom became a point of contention.

Tiling was planned for throughout the bathroom — from floor to ceiling within the walk-in shower stall, and floor to shoulder height along the perimeter of the space. The pattern of the shoulder-height tile would be broken by the lower edge of the window opening. The removal of the existing casings revealed the true rough opening of the window, but what wasn’t known was how the new window would sit in the opening. This was because the old window had a sill, whereas the new window is equally framed along all four sides. And although the new window’s brickmould was ordered to meet the exterior dimensions of the existing stucco, it was tough to anticipate just how this window would sit within the opening after placement and levelling, and how it would affect the tiling inside.

A gardener’s garden is never finished

The clock is ticking for landscape projects to be completed before the ground freezes.

Typically, in Winnipeg, the first frost occurs in mid to late September. Could we have a milder autumn like last year which allowed landscaping crews to get trees, shrubs and perennials into the ground well into early November?

That’s what landscape designers and homeowners with outdoor projects are eagerly hoping for.

Jennifer Salamon’s plants went into the ground last year on the very last day of October. On top of that, she tended the potted shrubs, trees and perennials that she purchased in spring 2025 during Winnipeg’s smokiest summer on record. Nonetheless, the mild temperatures and warm soil conditions in late October proved optimal, with a nearly 100 per cent plant survival rate over the winter.

New bay offers a window on the garden

This spring, a homeowner asked if the window in their master bedroom could be replaced with a new bay window, and for good reason — the property features a huge, beautiful yard, and the existing window didn’t provide the best view.

After a quick inspection, I established that provided the window remained the same width, the existing rough opening could simply be made deeper to accommodate a bay window. Once the window was delivered several weeks later, the logistics of the installation loomed.

Unlike a typical window replacement — which entails removing the old window and frame and installing a similarly sized new window, this project would require a few extra steps. For starters, a portion of the bottom wall would have to be removed to accommodate the deeper window.

The required area of drywall below the old window was cut away inside the bedroom using the rough opening specifications for the bay window. The vapour barrier and insulation were also removed, revealing the empty stud cavities and reverse side of the exterior sheathing. The stucco along the exterior wall was cut away using a masonry blade on a circular saw, and a grinder for the tighter areas. Vertical strips of stucco were also removed to ensure the exterior of the new window would tuck in neatly.

Dramatic views and vintage treasures tell a unique story

Every garden, large or small, has its own personal narrative to tell. Its design is a canvas for the owners to express themselves through visual elements like colour, shapes and composition.

Karl and Mary Loepp have a broad, living canvas with breathtaking garden vistas around every curve. Situated near the end of a winding road framed by majestic trees in historic St. Andrews, their stunning half-hectare property is a story of surprise and discovery.

Formerly a farmer’s field bereft of a single tree when the Loepps purchased the property and built their home in 2002, it was an apple orchard decades ago. When Karl first began working the soil and building the garden, he found coins dating back to 1908.

Both Karl and Mary spent their childhoods on family farms. They have a deep connection to nature and a passion for preserving history. Avid collectors of vintage farm equipment and hand tools, they are regulars at auctions, always searching for that one special piece to integrate into their garden where it becomes an intentional focal point.

New kitchen in a day

I like to start and finish a job before the next one begins, but sometimes there are situations beyond my control.

So, although this kitchen project was finished in a single day, the preparations began long beforehand.

Having installed a drop-down ceiling box with half a dozen LEDs to improve lighting in their kitchen several years ago, the homeowners decided it was time to give the cabinets a sorely needed facelift. The countertops had already been upgraded to quartz and the tiled backsplash still met the clients’ esthetic expectations. The cabinet doors and drawer fronts, however, had begun to show signs of wear. The cabinet boxes, however, were in relatively good condition and so the decision was made to simply replace the doors and drawer fronts.

Front-face replacement is an ideal option when the layout of the cabinets still works. Such a kitchen update is less invasive and less expensive.

Your fall gardening checklist

September is as pivotal a time for the garden and landscape as early spring.

Learn to make natural plant dyes and more at the Manitoba Fibre Festival

“I like to grow plants with purpose,” Bethany Booy said as we sat in her backyard in St. Vital on a warm day in August.

Booy is a fibre artist who gardens and forages locally grown plants for projects that she makes such as clothing items and baskets. She made a vest, for example, out of yarn she dyed using the indigo plant (Persicaria tinctoria) which she grows in her garden. She has also made her own natural dyes for yarn using onion skin, coreopsis (tick seed), and dock, a common perennial weed, as well as sumac and the bark and leaves from apple trees.

She grows a range of flowers such as Hopi Red Dye Amaranth, Rudbeckia black-eyed Susan, black hollyhock (Alcea rosea Nigra), Scabiosa Black Knight, marigolds and Cosmos sulphureus (sulphur cosmos) which she harvests and dries, and then uses for natural dyeing.

Booy also grows a dainty flower called Dyer’s chamomile. “It’s not used for making tea. It dyes a beautiful bright yellow,” she says.

Window of opportunity

The prospect of tackling a window upgrade to meet egress specifications in the bedroom of a basement I had recently remodelled had been weighing heavily on my mind all summer.

Although I’m used to breaching concrete footings, the work is quite arduous — a daunting end to a basement project that would not be finished until the window arrived. Last week, the window was installed. Be advised, the process is not for the faint of heart.

Unlike introducing a completely new window opening within the concrete footings of a basement, egress rules can often be met by simply deepening the opening of the existing window, provided the width meets the required minimum as set out in local building codes. This avoids having to create a wider window opening, which can pose crucial implications for structural support with exterior walls. Fortunately, the existing window in this case was wide enough to allow a section of footing to be cut out.

Before breaching the concrete, a window well was installed at the egress window location (to the proper depth, tied into the weeping tiles), and the interior framing was done and the opening left unfinished until the window was installed.

Welcoming Creekside Tree Farm and Nursery

The local horticulture industry in Manitoba is a close-knit, supportive community, in which wholesale growers and retail garden centre owners know each other well. Many are long-standing, multi-generational family businesses.

If a local grower decides to expand greenhouse operations or a garden centre changes ownership, it’s big news that ripples throughout Manitoba’s entire horticulture industry, including the gardening community.

So, when a brand-new, independent wholesale nursery and garden retailer sets up business on 236 acres just 35 minutes north of Winnipeg, it merits considerable interest. A new startup in an industry with very few new players stands out.

Creekside Tree Farm & Nursery, a retail and wholesale nursery, is located at 165 Tom Prince Dr. in Petersfield, Man., just down the road from Chesley’s Resort and Campground. The owner, Mikkel Grabinski, is 28. He purchased the site for his nursery in 2019. The past few years, he has worked quietly around the clock to grow his operation by planting thousands of trees, build relationships with wholesale suppliers, and hire a workforce.

Assessing a project at every step avoids messy finishes

Traditionally, the final day of a bathroom remodel includes the finishing touches: hanging the towel racks; applying silicone where required; and of course the bath and or tub shower enclosure installation.

However, at a recent bathroom-gut-and-remodel this tradition was turned on its head for the first time in my career, and for good reason.

Generally, once a shower base is installed against the wall studs, a moisture-protected backer is mounted on the walls, which overlaps the lip of the base along the top edge of the shower pan.

Much like a tub installation, this lip encourages water to flow back towards the base, should there ever be a breach in the silicone and waterproofing along the bottom edge of the tile. Once installed, the backer becomes the surface upon which the tile is then installed and subsequently grouted.

Plants that will freshen up your garden for a beautiful finale

The late August garden puts on a colourful show with favourite perennials such as black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), coneflower (Echinacea), and Russian sage (Perovskia) that provide a long-lasting bloom period.

There is also monkshood (Aconitum), with its satiny, purple-hooded flowers and meadow rue (Thalictrum), with airy clouds of tiny, lavender flowers.

The velvety buds of grapeleaf anemone (Anemone tomentosa Robustissima) are just beginning to open now for a mass display of pink-petalled flowers with showy yellow centres.

There is also James Compton bugbane (Actaea simplex) with its creamy white bottlebrush-like flower spikes that wave in the late summer breezes.